bar standard denver review

Co Clubs (I believe that’s their name) has a longstanding tradition of bringing quality nightlife to the “SoCo” (south of Colfax) corridor of Denver.  Club Vinyl and the Church have consistently featured not only incredible lights and sound, but also a constant stream of world class DJ’s (Tiesto, MSTRKRFT, Sasha, etc etc etc).

When I heard that “Bar Standard” would be replacing Co Clubs’ “Shelter”, a small, somewhat dingy venue, I was more than a little intrigued.

After reading this description-

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Productivity: Resist the Urge to Multitask

At my very first job I remember my boss advising me that I would be wise to learn how to do more than one thing at a time.  This advise, like many other ideas passed down upon my youthful ears, I absorbed without question.  Now, I do the opposite, and I get more done.  With these tools, I’ve helped to untrain years of practice. Read more

poll: chipotle vs. qdoba - best burrito

I’ve always been a fan of Chipotle, especially considering thier Colorado roots.  Ever since discovering Qdoba’s downtown Denver happy hour madness however, I’ve become obsessed. 

I haven’t been to Chipotle in at least 2 months, which is probably a record for me.

How about you?

nabaztag may be the weirdest most awesome thing on earth

I found out about ‘Nabaztag’ after one of their Google ads appeared on UM.  How Nabaztag is considered ‘contextually relevent’ to our content is a mystery.

Not so mysterious? 

That pre-teen girls and gay men everywhere are shreiking with delight because of it.

Seriously though, gadgets like this are the future of the internet, and foreshadow a complete integration of it into our homes.

I can’t begin to explain.

Spend some time on their site. 

Then bow before your robo-rabbit master.

Designer Coder Rap

If you laugh at this, you’re a pretty big web geek.

ultra music festival

I’ve been hearing about the UMF off and on over the last few years.  My recruiter even shared a torrid tale of a debauched adventure there that included some crazy Oakenfold after-party.  Still, I never investigated it to any degree.

Leave it to long time UM ally and ultra kick-ass east coast photog Jess then to help me see the light.

I wouldn’t know where to begin pointing out all the awesomeness of this year’s line-up, so I’ll just throw down 5 artists I would love to see:

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Earth Hour 2008 - Sat Mar 29th, 8pm

This Saturday, March 29th, at 8pm local time, the World Wide Fund for Nature is asking us to turn our lights off and reduce electricity use for one hour.

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

I’ve got a bag of tea lights and a bottle of wine that says this will be a good time.  Get more info at Earth Hour.

onelessdesk: OMG

I never thought I’d see the day when a desk got me all hot and bothered (who am I, Greg?!), but literally this thing gives me butterflies.

In my new place, space is at a how you say ‘premium’.

Heckler Design’s “OneLessDesk” with its 1.5′ collapsed footprint is almost 50% less than my current set up.

$899 seems a well, let’s face facts not SMALL price to pay for such perfection, but if as their web site says it truly is ‘the last desk I’ll ever own’ it may still be a bargain.

via the constantly brilliant Thrillist

Words of Wisdom: Don’t Be That Guy

Don’t be that guy who uses any phrases that involve, “that guy.”

robot babysitters

A report out of Tokyo about a new breed of robots designed to watch children is fascinating and freaky in equal parts.

The fascinating:

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Bachelor Pad: Balcony Furniture

With spring ushering in longer days and warmer weather, I’ve started looking to spend more time on my balcony.  Fantasies of drinking rich coffee, eating crisp garden salads, and sipping a glass of a big red wine preoccupy my mind.  Looking around though, I see that most people fortunate to have balconies keep them like I do, sorely neglected. Read more

buy your friend a belvedere

Belvedere Vodka just launched an innovative take on buying a round.  Go to “Buy Your Friend A Belvedere“, pre-pay for a drink, a code is sent to your friend, they redeem at a local bar.

I can see this being a life saver when last minute out-of-state-friend birthdays sneak up on me.

So far it looks like a limited roll-out (East Coast mainly) but hopefully it will go nationwide soon.

HBO In Treatment

If there’s one show Urban Monarch agrees on, its HBO’s Entourage.  Also from producer Mark Wahlberg, HBO added another series this year, In Treatment.  Filmed in one setting, this gives viewers the voyueristic opportunity to sit in on a therapist’s sessions.  The best part about it?  The first 15 episodes are available for free on Amazon’s Unbox.

Download: In Treatment

alesis micron - sweet ass analog synth

When I saw the Micron (on the always awesome ‘the oh so quiet show’) my first thought was it looks freaking cool, like something Disney would have dreamed up in 1955 for a world’s fair exhibit on toys of the future.

My next thought was:

“Daaaaang.  That would look swank in Greg’s uber-mod bachelor pad.”

It may look like a retro-cool toy keyboard (albeit one designed for bratty trust fund toddlers by some fancy Swiss design house), but under the hood, it’s a hardcore piece of kit:

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Amazon Unbox Customer Service Rocks

One evening I was feeling like spending the night in for a change, so I decided to shell out $1.99 to give Amazon’s digital video rental and purchase system a trial. Just a few days after my first Unbox purchase of a House M.D. episode, I had downloaded the rest of the current season. I was hooked.

With House currently holding its new episodes till later April, I moved onto Showtime’s Weeds as an interim replacement. Coming home late Friday night, I decided that watching a new episode or two was in order. After a series of misfired mouse clicks and repeated one-click purchase attempts, I could not get any new episodes to download. Frustrated, and perhaps a bit too far into my cups, I gave up and went to sleep. Read more

goal: less albums, more tracks

I just finished putting together a DJ set-up at my place.  The prospect of learning has me in an online music buying mood.  One thing I just can’t seem to get past is the notion of buying an entire album when I only really like a few tracks worth. 

 For some reason, that $8.99 or $9.99 price tag just seems too tempting to pass up.  This is beyond retarded.  I can remember how mad I used to get paying $15 for a CD when I really only wanted the single.  Back in those days, you often had no other choice, since the ala carte digital convenience of the internet hadn’t yet arrived. 

 Going forward, I’m setting a bar:  If the album doesn’t contain compelling lyrics or an artistic ‘theme’ that truly deserves to be heard in its entirety, I’m gonna try to stick to singles. 

More variety means more songs I can butcher a horribly un-beatmatched crossfade on. Bring on the glow sticks.

Productivity: Do What You Really Want

Some days my time slips away from me as I let my wandering mind lead me from one activity to the next.  Sitting idly in front of the computer or lazing in front of the TV, an urge comes and I follow it to the kitchen for a snack.  Later in the evening when pondering how I spent my day, it is easy to realize, I could’ve probably done a lot cooler stuff with my day.  After a few trials, I’ve worked out a method to combat this. Read more

justice concert review

Top 5 thoughts on the Justice show:

1. Justice are freaking rock stars.

The spine crushing barrage of dirty-sick distorted synths and military grade beats are one thing. The giant stack of Marshall amps flanking their set-up are another. The fact that Xavier de Rosnay had a cigarette dangling out of his mouth for the duration of the show? TRUE rock star status. Up yours, Denver county anti-smoking ordinance.

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oldversion.com

One of the best things about upgrading to a Mac (hopefully within a month or so!) will be the seamless upgrade of iTunes when new versions are released.  There have been SEVERAL window’s iTunes updates that have practically crashed my computer, given me general heart failure, and sent me scrambling to roll back.  This sometimes involved scouring message boards in forums looking for links to prior versions.  In other words, a huge pain in my ass.
Oldversion.com is exactly what it sounds like; a site that attempts to catalog and archive every version of many popular programs, including iTunes.  Smart.

Old Spice Hair and Body Wash - Is It Right For Me?

Being in New Orleans I had an experience that I wasn’t accustomed to, a TV with cable that is turned on most of the time.  I got to know the commercials as they repeated everyday singing little jingles like, “Is it French? Or is it Italian?  Perhaps Fritalian!”

Oh how I did like that jam.  One commercial I only saw once though and it warranted a youtube search for a repeat play.  Bonus link: The 30 second extended version.

Edward Monkton is Giles Andreae is Awesome

For Valentine’s Day this year I received a delightful little book by Edward Monkton.  The story, A Lovely Love Story, is about two dinosaurs that fall in love and overcome their displeasure with each others love of shopping and love of things.  I then fell in love immediately, with Edward Monkton that is. Read more

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